Want to run faster while using less energy? Here’s how to train your body to be a more efficient machine.

I’ve been running for about two years now, and I want to improve my running efficiency. I follow a program that has plenty of variety (tempo, hills, long run, cycling), but I’d love to know what I can do to improve.
Training for speed via intervals, tempo, and other workouts is ...

Rebecca Griffiths had completed a half marathon in spite of her terminal diagnosis.

Back in December 2015, we ran a story on Rebecca Griffiths and the running group set up in her name, Team Bex. The motivational runner had defied a terminal cancer diagnosis to raise thousands of pounds for charity and inspire her Cambridgeshire community – including friends, family, nursing staff and ...

Athletes collide and help each other to finish in show of Olympic spirit

Not an uncommon scene occurred during the women’s 5,000m qualifying heat at the Rio Olympics when athletes Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D’Agostino collided halfway through the fifth lap.
In a move that touched viewers worldwide, D’Agostino got up but chose to help her fellow athlete to her feet, rather than continue with ...

Women’s 1500m
Faith Kipyegon pulled ahead of Ethiopia’s world record holder Genzebe Dibaba to win Kenya their third athletics gold medal. Dibaba, who was favourite to win, took silver as she finished in second place in 4:10:27, just behind Kipyegon’s 4:08:92. Jennifer Simpson won bronze in 4:10:53, giving the US their ...

Women’s 3000m steeplechase
Ruth Jebet won Bahrain their first gold medal when she ran a new Asian record in the 3000m steeplechase. Ruth narrowly missed out on setting a new women’s world record by less than a second, but became the second woman ever to finish the race under 9 minutes ...

Speedwork, like dental work, is necessary - and not even all that evil.

Psychologists are great. They have a word for everything.
Take experiential avoidance, for instance. (Okay, that’s two words. Indulge me.) Experiential avoidance, as described in a research paper out of George Mason University, “is a process involving excessive negative evaluations of unwanted private thoughts, feelings, and sensations, an unwillingness to experience these private ...

Meet the 74-year-old former athlete and coach to 400m world record holder, Wayde van Niekerk

Ans Botha and Wayde van Niekerk have been working together since 2012; two years after van Niekerk caught her attention when he finished fourth in the 200m final of the 2010 IAAF World Junior Champtionships in Canada.
In 2013, van Niekerk started focusing on 400m at Ans’ advice to improve his endurance and ...

Catch up with the results of the Rio athletics so far, including the 100m, 10,000m and women's marathon.

Men's and women's 100m
Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win three Olympic 100m golds as he stormed his way to first place in Sunday’s final, crossing the finish line in 9.81 seconds. The Jamaican was closely followed by the USA’s Justin Gatlin, who came in 0.08 seconds after him, ...

A new study finds that endurance athletes can tolerate greater muscle fatigue in competition.

There’s nothing more demoralising than trying to run at your goal race pace in training. Personally, I’ve seldom managed to run even half my race distance at goal pace; and on the rare occasions that I try something like that, I’m always left wondering: “How on earth am I going ...

A stronger mind means a faster body. RW grabs the keys to the hurt locker to learn the secrets of the science of suffering.

Each ragged breath feels like fire being torn from your lungs, your heart is thudding like a basketball on the court floor, your muscles throb, each footstep sends shock waves through your body. Every fibre of your being implores, ‘Stop!’
Running certainly hurts when you’re pushing hard. But according to researchers ...

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